Website warns revelers about little known drug side effect

RxISK.org, the first free independent website for researching and reporting prescription drug side effects, issued a holiday caution today on the use of alcohol and prescription drugs.

Did you know that combining an FDA-approved prescription drug with alcohol can put you over the legal limit even though you’ve only had one drink?

“Even though it’s the alcohol that is typically blamed, it may be the doctor-prescribed, pharmacist-dispensed drug that amplifies and sustains the alcohol level, which can result in impaired driving charges, a car crash or even the loss of your job,” says website founder Dr. David Healy.

“With many drugs there’s a good chance the level of intoxication you feel doesn’t line up with the amount of alcohol you’ve consumed,” says Healy. “Which points to the fact that these drugs can have a profound impact on your body’s ability to metabolize alcohol.”

Petra’s story

Consider the case of Petra in Australia who was on an antidepressant called Cymbalta. Suspecting that Petra’s drugs were “spiking” her drinks, her father purchased an alcometer (breathalyzer) apparatus. Several tests revealed readings of 0.04 per 375 ml of beer (containing approximately 18 ml of alcohol), which is more than one-and-a-half times the level one would expect.

That was the first problem.

The second was that the reading didn’t decrease at the expected rate of 0.02 per hour, and her BAC consistently showed 0.08 for two beers and 0.12 for three beers consumed over two to three hours.

Petra’s father, friends, and brother all had much lower readings. Petra’s father also tested his device against a police roadside check and obtained the same results.

“Her blood alcohol levels were a shock,” says Petra’s father. “Later, when Petra was off the antidepressant, we ran the tests again with the same device and her scores changed dramatically and were close to mine, her friends’, and her brothers.”

Missing data

Dr. Dee Mangin, Data Based Medicine’s Chief Medical Officer and a professor and Director of Research in the Department of Public Health and General Practice at the University of Otago in New Zealand, says “unfortunately, this is not an area that pharmaceutical companies look at during controlled drug trials.”

There may be no warning whatsoever on the manufacturer’s literature that accompanies your prescription, she says. “This is because the data is simply not available. “

“Stories like Petra’s are often not considered ‘credible’ or are misattributed to alcohol, which means that doctors, lawyers, and judges do not recognize the link between prescription drugs and alcohol,” says Healy.

“Our mission with RxISK is to build a collective pool of wisdom and make this data available to everyone for the purposes of identifying problems as well as solutions. We need you to report your experience.“

RxISK — your megaphone to help change drug safety

RxISK.org allows users to enter the name of a prescription drug and see the side effects that have been reported to the FDA’s MedWatch System since 2004, as well as to RxISK, for more than 35,000 drug names from 103 countries. The data is presented in tables, tag clouds, heat maps, and interactive graphs, showing what’s happening with other people taking the same drug around the world and in a user’s community.

Users can then select the effect(s) they are experiencing and click on Report a Drug Side Effect to complete a report. This will add their anonymized experience to the RxISK database so that others can benefit from this information, as well as provide reporters with a personalized RxISK Report linking their symptoms and meds, which they can take to their doctor or pharmacist to facilitate a better treatment conversation.

About Data Based Medicine Americas Ltd.

RxISK.org is owned and operated by Data Based Medicine Americas Ltd. (DBM), based in Toronto, Canada. DBM’s founders have international reputations in early drug-side-effect detection and risk mitigation, pharmacovigilance, and patient-centered care. Although drug side effects are known to be a leading cause of death and disability, less than 5% of serious drug side effects are reported. DBM’s mission is to capture this missing data directly from patients through RxISK’s free drug side effect reporting tool and use this data to help make medicines safer for all of us.

Comments

Wondering the same. Was in a motorcycle accident in 05 and by i wanna say 07 or 8 was heading towards dissability numerous back surgeries and yes depression among other prescribed drug. And one was cymbalta. Long story short im 46 now and this started when i was 35. Havent had but maybe one ticket in 20 yrs. not alcohol. But yet in the last 3-1/2 years two dui. Still on cymbalta. Does make you wonder. I have nothin to lie about here. Just tellin you all the truth

I’m in the International Baccalaureate Program and for my Chemistry Lab I’m trying to find data online about how prescription drugs, or any medicine really, affects one’s results on a breathalyzer test. If you could help me in anyway it would be greatly appreciated!

I am trying ascertain whether a prescription drug can cause elevation in a breathalyzer reading. For example: two standard drinks in an hour will put you close to .05 BAC. Can a drug elevate that number without physical performance being affected? In a case I am aware of, the person had consumed a recorded 3 glasses of wine over a 4 hour period, yet blew 0.19 on the breathalyser. That amount of alcohol consumed over 4 hours should have resulted in a reading less than 0.05.

Hi, I first have to say I take wellbutrin for depression , xanax for ptsd and borderline personality disorder sonoma for insomnia and neurontin for nerve pain , I was a;so put on a short course of pain killers for strep throat I don’t drink except a friend of mine I haven’t seen for sometime came up from NC we met at a local pub and I literally had a tall beer ! we left I was even buzzed was pulled over by a Sheriff and said my muffler was to loud which was not true that’s another story anyway Bac rises over time especially when taking my meds that I do ,I learned that drom researching that tonight cause I was arrested for a Dwi and they gave me a breathalyzer test after being at the station after 2 and a half hours ! officers know more about laws the us civilians not right ! I need help I can’t afford a Dwi expert attorney ! I will be appointed a public defender because I get SSI ! they wait that long on purpose everyone metabolizes alcohol differently especially women Please help me !! I don’t wanna suffer a consequence of literally drinking one beer when I don’t drink and 2 because I didn’t know that medications elevate BAC over a period of time (sighs)

I was arrested for a DUI several months ago and plan on fighting myself as I can’t afford a lawyer. I have been on Wellbutrin for years and that particular evening due to anxiety took an Ativan before bed. I fully admit I had 3 beers after work but had also slept for 5 & a half hours before being pulled over due to an alledged burnt out license plate light(it wasn’t burned out might I add) and failing the breathalyzer. Any additional information you can provide would be greatly appreciated including links to other sites on the subject. Thank you in advance.